Hui waited, unwilling to break his connection entirely. Come on, someone hurry back! I’m waiting urgently online! There’s a battle going on, and it’s just a matter of time before someone kills this poor dead cultivator!

Outside, Mo Riyan and Long Tongshi clashed in a spray of sparks.

“I, your father, will teach you a lesson!” Mo Riyan snarled.

“You’re a thousand years too late to be my father!” Long Tongshi shouted back.

Another explosion rattled Hui’s bones. He flinched. So intense… ahh, please don’t kill me! I’m already dead! I don’t want to go back to the Underworld. Not when I’m so close to seeing everyone again!

“…Hui? Can you hear me?”

“Ah? Yes! Did you find him?”

“There’s no time to waste. Quick, tell me something only Song Wei and you would know!” Shen Aiguo barked, unusually terse.

Hui startled. “Uh, uh… Oh! That day, when he came to the forge, I called him a wounded tiger. Tell him that!”

“Tell him he’s a wounded tiger?” Shen Aiguo said, confused.

“Just—it should tell him it’s me,” Hui said, nodding.

There was a pause. “Oh. It worked?”

Lao Ning stepped in. “Song Wei, the teleportation array is—”

Hui waited nervously, twiddling his thumbs. Come on, come on! Let me in! I’m running out of time. Teleport me in. I don’t care where! As long as I can drop a seed, I can always return to the Southern Sect Conference!

A cold hand settled on his shoulder, his physical shoulder. “It’s time. We have another mission.”

Hui gritted his teeth. Not yet! A little longer. I’m almost there!

“Song Wei is flying over at top speed. He’s going to teleport you in!” Shen Aiguo called.

Hui opened his eyes in the dragon temple. Long Tongshi and Mo Riyan clashed overhead. Whirling his spear, Long Tongshi darted in. Mo Riyan planted his feet, ready to deflect the spear thrust.

“Eh? Elder Brothers, what happened?” Hui asked. Did the resentment demon infect them and turn them against one another? Did they go mad while I was gone? Is this—

Long Tongshi lowered his spear, and Mo Riyan stood. “Ah? Have you given up?” Mo Riyan asked.

Oh, wait. That’s right. Some cultivators think it’s fun to spar. I forgot. Hui held his hands out toward them. “Hurry. They’re going to teleport us in!”

Long Tongshi and Mo Riyan exchanged a glance. After a moment, Mo Riyan jumped over and grabbed Hui’s hand.

Regarding him with distrust, Long Tongshi carefully took Hui’s other hand. “You’d better not be lying.”

“Elder Brother, do I look like a liar?” Hui said, shaking his head in disappointment.

In the Underworld, the reaper shook him harder. “Get up! Weiheng Hui!”

Hui’s grip on reality slipped. The Underworld and the mortal realm overlapped, laid on top of one another. He rubbed his hand, creating a lotus seed as quickly as he could.

Come on. Just another few seconds…!

The teleportation formation lit up. Red light wrapped around Hui and the other two. They fell inward. Space warped around them, wrapping them up. The world turned black. Hui’s body compressed into a tiny tube, and he felt thousands of miles pass by in the space of a breath. He burst out the other end.

Song Wei stood there. He stepped forward, a smile spreading across his face. “Master!”

Long Tongshi and Mo Riyan looked around.

“Wow. We’re really back,” Mo Riyan sighed, relieved.

Long Tongshi gripped his spear. His eyes flashed. “Time to find a challenger.”

Hui staggered. He put a hand on his stomach. Hot! Why is it so hot?

Song Wei’s eyes widened, and he frowned in concern. “Master?”

Hui waved his hand. “I’m fine, I’m—”

“Wake up!”

Hui jolted up, banging his head on the reaper’s chin as he jumped. She fell back, clutching her jaw. With a gasp, Hui clutched the top of his head. Ow, ow, ow…

The reaper caught herself and glared at him. “What were you doing?”

“Contemplating the mysteries of the universe,” Hui said, nodding.

She cocked an eyebrow. “Is that why your gut is on fire?”

Huh? Hui looked down.

Embers glowed through the belt of his robe right at his stomach. He put a hand to it. What…

Wait. Is this that phoenix fire that Han Qin infected me with before we killed his clone? I wonder… can I use this as the foundation of my death reversal?

Death reversal…

The reaper sighed. “I told you not to contemplate anything too quickly. You’re still healing. Should we stop by the Yellow Springs to extinguish the flames first?”

Hui took a deep breath. He circulated his qi, drawing out the river water in his veins to quench the embers. The burning sensation abated, and the glow faded away. Smiling, he nodded at the reaper. “I’m fine. Where are we going, Elder Sister?”

The reaper waved him on. “Back to the mortal realm. Where else?”

“Elder Sister, can we enter the Immortal realm?” Hui asked. The way she said that implies…

She shook her head. “You can’t.”

“Eh—wait, but Elder Sister can?” Hui asked, tilting his head.

The reaper sighed. “It isn’t important. Let’s hurry, before we miss our chance.”

“Can Zhu Diyu enter the Immortal Realm?” Hui asked.

“Of course he can. It’s by his authority that I—”

“Does everything you do rely on Zhu Diyu’s authority?” Hui asked.

The reaper narrowed her eyes at him. For the first time ever, she exerted her pressure. Something immensely heavy settled onto Hui’s shoulders, barely restrained by the reaper. It was as though a thousand pounds leaned onto him, barely held up by someone much, much stronger than him.

Hui dropped to the ground. “Many apologies! This small cultivator’s tongue slipped! I didn’t think before I spoke! Please forgive this small cultivator!”

The pressure vanished. Sighing, the reaper turned away. “Keep up.”

“Eh? I’m coming,” Hui said, hurrying after her.

“You should wonder what it is that kept me here for so, so long,” the reaper murmured, barely loud enough for Hui to hear.

Hui looked up. What was that? What kept the reaper here?

No, but… she has a point. She’s remained in the Underworld for all this time. In fact, when I first arrived, she hinted that everyone here has unresolved business. What is it that would keep her here for as long as she’s remained? What is it that she still hasn’t resolved, after so long?

Hui frowned. He glanced at the reaper’s back, at her white robes and firmly set shoulders. Shouldn’t there be two reapers? White Impermanence and Black Impermanence. But instead, there’s only one. She and Zhu Diyu both have referred to the ‘missing reaper,’ the one I’m filling in for. Could it be something to do with that?

I wonder… next time I have free time, after I meet my kids, I’ll poke around the Underworld and see if any of the other ghosts have any idea what happened between the reapers, back when there were still two. Maybe the other reaper died… er, extra-died. Entered the cycle of reincarnation…?

Wait, what did happen to the other reaper? We’re all dead here. It’s not like they could have died again.

…right? Right?

Anyways, whether the other reaper is what she’s hung up on or not… I should definitely look into them! If the previous second reaper vanished for whatever reason, what’s to say this small cultivator might not also disappear? I need to know, I must know! My poor little life might hang in the balance here!

In any case, Elder Sister is clearly White Impermanence, wearing all white as she does. That means I must be Black Impermanence, right? Hui plucked at his robes, looking at the same blue as usual. Though I look more like Blue Impermanence right now…

“Hurry up,” the reaper said, glancing back.

“Coming,” Hui called, hustling to her side. I’ll worry about that when I get back. First, let’s finish whatever it is that Elder Sister wants me to do, meet my children at last, then we’ll figure out about the other reaper!